A little confession up front: I'm a bit of a curser. Maybe I can attribute it to growing up with a salty grandmother or coarse Italian uncles, but the fact is, I'm not one of those people who says things like "garsh dang it all" or "what the heck." My mother was certainly one to curse from time to time: again, it was "shit!" if she burned the toast, not "sugar!" And even though she peppered an occasional curse or two into the course of our days, I would never, ever, ever have cursed in front of her, or another adult, any more than I would have poured myself a glass of bourbon before dinner. I got it: cursing was something adults were allowed to do, and kids could try it out behind their backs, but never to their faces.
Now, I'm also not advocating for adults cursing constantly, inappropriately, and disrespectfully. Yes, I bristle when I'm with young kids and the person at the table next to me or in the elevator with us is really being crude.
But here's the thing: I could never understand parents who had "curse jars," into which ADULTS were supposed to put a dollar if they uttered any kind of profanity. Hey kids, guess what? I waited all these years, and grew up, and earn a living, and get to drink wine, and stay up late, and say "fuck" any time I want. It's one of the joys of being a grown-up. Again, I'm not saying I would have looked at my kids at told them to "get the fuck out of here." But that's because that's not respectful or nice and I treated my kids nicely and with respect. But if I stubbed my toe and uttered a not nice word, hey, I CAN. I'm a grown-up.
And I'm just astounded that movies are actually rated "R" solely because the word FUCK passes anyone's lips—even for historically accurate reasons in a movie that's not only totally appropriate for children, but would be great for them to see. (Yes, I'm thinking of The King's Speech.) In fact, I'd even argue that the curse makes it a little fun—it would make a lot of kids more likely to watch and enjoy. I can't even imagine the stupidity that led to the decision to dub in less offensive words so kids can watch. Shouldn't we be more worried about a gun or cigarette? Then a fucking word? Consider the things that ratings boards look at when assessing a movie: violence, smoking, sexual content, language. Of all those things, bad language is the only one that is actually not going to hurt a kid if he or she tries it out. And, guess what parents? You can teach your kids that certain words are for adults only.
So really? We do need to get the fuck over it. Cursing can be fun, it can be exactly the right word to tell a story, and it's a perfectly fine thing for an adult to do from time to time. And another thing to look forward to when you grow up. Damn straight.
